The gift of giving

Author collects stories of people who found their life's work in helping others

Elizabeth Floyd Mai, Times Union

By Elizabeth Floyd Mair

Published 4:09 pm, Thursday, May 15, 2014

Barbara Bonner, author of "Inspiring Generosity" (Wisdom Publications, 2014), a collection of inspiring stories as well as quotes and poems from the world's great writers, will appear at Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany on Thursday, May 22 to sign copies of her book. (Courtesy Barbara Bonner)

Barbara Bonner, author of "Inspiring Generosity" (Wisdom...

Barbara Bonner, author of "Inspiring Generosity" (Wisdom Publications, 2014), a collection of inspiring stories as well as quotes and poems from the world's great writers, will appear at Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany on Thursday, May 22 to sign copies of her book. (Courtesy Barbara Bonner)

Elissa Montanti had little money and no fundraising experience when she started a group that has brought more than 100 children from around the world to the U.S. for life-changing treatment, surgery and prosthetics.

Narayanan Krishnan was an award-winning chef for a Swiss hotel when the poverty he saw on a visit home convinced him to quit his job, return to India, and start an organization that makes and delivers three hot meals a day to the needy in his hometown.

These are just two of the stories of lives transformed by generosity included in the new book "Inspiring Generosity" by Barbara Bonner (Wisdom Publications, 2014), a collection of inspiring stories as well as quotes and poems from the world's great writers.

Bonner, who lives in the village of Housatonic in western Massachusetts, will be at Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany on Thursday to sign copies of her book.

Before writing "Inspiring Generosity," Bonner spent 30 years leading the fundraising efforts of museums, educational institutions and nonprofits. She now has her own consulting practice focused on helping nonprofits transform their philanthropic support:

Q: What was it like doing several years of research into the topic of generosity?

A: It was deeply reaffirming. I read hundreds of accounts of people who, in the course of just living their daily lives, had a sort of "a-ha moment" that completely changed them and the way they led their lives. From these stories (and they continue to pour in), I selected 14 to share in the book. These wonderful people moved me deeply and gave me a strong sense of basic human goodness and selflessness.

I had the opportunity to read the many scientific studies coming out of universities around the country (Stanford, Berkeley, Stony Brook and Notre Dame, most prominently) that point to altruism as an inborn human trait, observable even in young babies.

In fact, when I began research for the book, I was invited to a small conference in Zurich hosted by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and consisting of neuroscientists, economists and Buddhist teachers contemplating just this question.

As I became more and more immersed, I began to see how generosity shows up in our lives in unexpected ways. For example, I see generosity as the driving engine behind acts of forgiveness, not holding a grudge, giving the benefit of the doubt, not grabbing the credit, true public service and many forms of activism.

Q: You write that simply doing something, anything, to help can make us feel more connected to one another. Is that the same impulse that's at work today, for instance, when people try to stand against the abduction of Nigerian schoolgirls by tweeting "Bring Back Our Girls"?

A: I believe that our horror at this unspeakable act touches the generosity in our hearts, as we all want to step forward to help in some way.

And the news brings new stories of generosity every day, including those living on the Lebanese side of the Lebanon/Syria border — in many ways the poorest of the poor — who give whatever they have to the Syrian refugees who cross over. Or those at last year's Boston Marathon who ran toward the bomb site, and not away from it. Courage certainly, but generosity toward others was the driver.